outer continental shelf

Legislation that would boost offshore drilling safety was thrown into limbo last week, after senators clashed over a plan to give coastal states a greater share of federal revenues for energy produced near their beaches.

The breakdown of a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee debate on the measure could put the entire drilling safety bill into jeopardy after more than a year of negotiations on the legislation inspired by the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

The American Petroleum Institute is kicking off a new advertising campaign designed to boost support for domestic oil production and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would deliver Canadian tar sands crude to Gulf Coast refineries. The campaign — dubbed “Keys to the Future” — will target lawmakers in such battleground states as Florida, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.
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Federal regulators today formally agreed to step up their collaboration with government scientists in studying the environmental consequences of proposed offshore drilling and renewable energy projects along the nation’s coasts.

The agreement came in the form of a memorandum of understanding inked by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which formalizes how the two agencies will collaborate on scientific studies and decisions about the outer continental shelf.